Wolf Curse (Midnight Wolf Curse Book 1) Read online

  I rolled the glowing thread between my palms, feeling it growing more potent as it thickened.

  Andreas lifted his tunic once more. “Okay, I’ll get naked.”

  He was a light-hearted man, but tough as steel. I wouldn’t have been able to joke as much with that injury to my rib cage.

  “You’ll do the top one,” he instructed, which was logical since his cord was bigger, but I was grateful that he had let me heal the smaller outer one. “One, two, three,” he rumbled all at once before I was even properly prepared.

  I hurried to stretch towards him so that we pressed the magic against his skin at the same time. At my squeak, Father shushed me. I knew it alerted all the wildlife in our location, but it couldn’t be helped. The pain seared along my veins more intensely than the last go.

  “Sinsra livris meris, sinsra livris meris, sinsra livris meris.”

  I felt like death by the time Andreas pulled his tunic down again.

  “All done.” He stood and went over to the cat. He heaved her up onto his shoulders, letting two legs hang down on either side of his neck. “Shall we?”

  He carried on walking, crossing the gently flowing river.

  Vargo fell into step behind me, tensely moving along and looking in every direction.

  My white boots sloshed in the water as I jumped along some stepping stones with light steps.

  On the other side of the spring, we continued onward, dry leaves and twigs crunching under our soles.

  Vargo grabbed hold of my shoulder to halt me. I was surprised as it wasn’t far to the wolf temple from here. My father and Andreas also stopped.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  No one answered, but they didn’t have to. In the distance there was a haunting cry, sounding like the last bellow before death, before an unnerving silence fell.

  Father drew his sword and Andreas followed. Vargo shuffled me behind him.

  Out of the bushes in front of us, the bloodied form of Commander Detroy stumbled into view. Father raced to his side, supporting him under one shoulder.

  “Commander, what happened to you?”

  “The wolves, My King, they’re slaughtering the platoon.”

  The Commander collapsed to the ground even though Father tried to break his fall.

  “War,” the Commander panted before his eyes closed and his body went limp.

  6

  CHAPTER

  Father put his ear to the Commander’s chest. “He’s dead.”

  “He is also soaked,” Andreas said. “There must be a storm up ahead.”

  Vargo turned to my father. “If there is a war and a big storm ahead, we should retreat back to the castle, my King.”

  If the Commander was in this state, the war must already be lost. Vargo knew it too, and so did my father. I observed my father, as he searched the Commander’s body for any weapons he still had.

  “Duty sometimes means death,” my father said. “How can I ask my people to fight for me if I don’t fight for them? I don’t flee from my responsibilities.”

  “Neither does death flee from its responsibility,” Andreas chided, obviously wanting Father to retreat in view of the bad odds. “To my better judgment though, you know I’ll cover your back whatever you face. Lead on.”

  The battle code meant that Andreas must let Father take the lead, or else Andreas’s vigour would have made him run to be the first man on the battlefield.

  We ran into the greyer depths of the jungle where the swamp wet our boots and the hammering sound of heavy rainfall intensified, drowning out the clangs of crossing swords.

  We were getting closer to the storm and I was becoming more scared as we surged towards it. There was only a short distance left until I would be faced with whatever was going on at the Wolf Temple. I pushed through the last part of the undergrowth, and the rain from the angry grey sky above us instantly soaked my hair and dress. The ground was trembling and a few tree roots had been torn from the soil and fallen over. The turmoil inside me instinctively screamed for me to turn around and go home and escape this horrible place.

  The enormous temple stood tall in a raised clearing. Its massive flat roof was supported by hundreds of round pillars along its frame, and between them stood the ancient square temple building. There was a door there somewhere but you couldn’t see it. Ivy climbed up its stone walls, finding any groove to hold onto and slithered all the way over the roof. There was a meadow all around it, upon which fighting soldiers were intent on murdering each other. The Fae were greatly outnumbered, dotting the field in scattered troupes, wearing black iron and red capes, while the wolves pressed in on them, in their silver armour and green capes.

  What were the green capes doing here in Skyland territory? Those belonged to Alpha Wild Skully from the jungle district in the north? The Skyland wolf pack wore blue capes, not green. What had been said in that letter delivered to my father that had spurred this on?

  Vargo pressed me down behind a boulder. “Prepare your bow with a blue cord, Princess. I’ll hold off the enemy.”

  I fervently rubbed my fingers together, summoning blue magic.

  “Sinsra livris meris, sinsra livris meris, sinsra livris meris.”

  When it was long enough, I wired it around an arrowhead. I peered up from my hideout to aim, but couldn’t release, as the people were all muddled up in close combat.

  As our guards saw Father and Andreas, they were like kittens arching their backs to become large mountain lions.

  Suddenly, a cacophony of barks, howls and growls ruffled the serenity of the forest to my right. Out from the tree line ran hundreds of wolves, charging straight into the battle. I lifted my bow and arrow with the tangled blue cord once more, but then lowered it as I saw the wolves who had just arrived, were attacking Wild Skully’s pack and not the Fae.

  Clifford Moon, the alpha of the Skyland City pack, walked out from the forest in human form, his gaze seeking out the Fae King. He looked annoyed, his black shoulder-length hair soaked by the rain, his silver suit stained with blood and mud, and probably smelling worse than wet dog.

  When he saw my father, he started jogging up the hill towards the Wolf Temple shouting for him. “Fae King Crawford, take cover inside the temple!”

  Father looked up, and without a second thought abandoned his opponent to follow Alpha Moon. Halfway up the hill, he turned to find Vargo and me.

  “Bring Athroxane!” he yelled at Andreas who was standing only a short distance away.

  Andreas’s white hair swung from one shoulder to the other as he turned abruptly to race my way.

  “You cover us,” he instructed Vargo, yanking me to my feet.

  Andreas curled my frame into his wide torso as we ran across the field and up the hill. Wounded guards screamed all around us while the blue essence of magic lingered like dust in the air.

  The ground vibrated, creating small rifts, as if it wanted to get rid of us all, swallowing us up. I jumped over a small one to reach my father who wrenched me out of the way of a boulder rolling past that had been torn away from the temple’s base. We approached the temple, looking for the way in, which door would open when the key, called the Wolf Eye, was inserted in a circular indentation in the wall. I pushed away the clustered ivy branches and searched my palms along the dank wall. I constantly had to look over my shoulder to ensure no one was about to attack me, as Vargo and Andreas had distanced themselves from me to help the others in the battle.

  The earth shook, as a rockfall from the Wolf Temple cascaded down its high walls and Father pulled me away just before I would have been flattened to death. I thought my heart was going to punch a hole in my chest, I was so scared.

  The rain battered my head and dripped down my forehead, hiding the tears on my face. Lightning struck and I cowered even tighter into my father’s embrace. The thunder came next. I closed my eyes, my whole body was shivering.

  “Father! Don’t let me die!”

  The ringing steel mixed with nature’s
wrath made it almost impossible to hear each other. The red sun setting in the west behind heavy black clouds was a constant reminder that time was ticking by.

  “It’s just a matter of time before Alpha Moon has it under control!” Father shouted, as he stroked his finger along the Wolf Temple’s stone wall, looking for the keyhole.

  Suddenly he stopped, and it looked like he had found it.

  “Alpha Moon, toss the Wolf Eye to me!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  I turned around to see the alpha rushing up the sharply inclined landscape. I raced out to meet him halfway, so that he could return to the fight, but I tripped on a rock and my foot didn’t follow on the same trajectory as the rest of me. Pain shot up my ankle as it twisted and my knees buckled under my weight, sending me tumbling down the hillside. I stopped as I slammed into a tree, the force sending me spinning on my stomach.

  I lifted my head up towards the temple, spitting dead leaves from my mouth.

  Damn it, I must get up! Roxie, you can do this!

  I pushed myself to my knees. My father was waiting at the top of the hill. He still didn’t seem to have the key from the alpha that would enable him to open the door into the temple.

  The ground shook once more, like a ship on rough seas, so I placed my hands either side of me on the soaking grass for balance.

  The Fae Mother is angry!

  More boulders tore from the temple structure together with the ivy that was trying to hold onto them, and viciously tumbled down its side, burying the temple’s base. When rock hit rock, sparks flew sky-high in the air like angry fireflies.

  My father was in the midst of it all. My heartbeat escalated the warning, as I saw Father fighting against Alpha Moon in the door opening.

  Why are they fighting one another?

  “Father! Move! Get out of there!”

  Father managed to pull the alpha dagger from Clifford’s belt and stab his arm.

  Red magic streamed around the bloodied dagger – a blood curse.

  Holy Fae Mother. My heart stopped for a moment as I looked at the red essence seeking with its tendrils to fester on the alpha.

  “Father, what have you done!” I shouted and was on my way towards him when, in front of my eyes, a massive stone block fell to trap my father underneath.

  I screamed and ran to him. His feet stuck out, and his upper body was lodged inside the temple. All the bones in his legs had been crushed. The rain was dancing with a relevé pitter patter in a pool of his blood that was seeping in forking rivers down the hill.

  Andreas pulled me up by my waist and dragged me away.

  “Athroxane! I’m sorry! We’ll retreat!”

  I didn’t feel or see anything else. My mind was caught in a loop, playing my father’s death on repeat. Andreas towed me by the hand and I tried to keep up as fast as I could with my ailing ankle.

  A swishing sound behind me ended with a thud and Vargo cried out.

  “Don’t look back, Princess. Just run!” Andreas barked and let go of my hand.

  I didn’t look back. I ran into the jungle, the stench of damp welcome as long as the treetops sheltered me from the rain. I sprinted faster than I ever knew I could, knowing that even if the wolves didn’t catch up with me, I had no weapons on me to protect myself from the other dangers of the wild ahead.

  I had lost sight of Andreas by the time I arrived at the Fae riverbank. The sounds around me stopped, leaving only an empty void like a well without water. I nestled myself into a large hollow tree trunk to hide and rest. I wrapped my arms around my knees, collapsed my forehead onto them and cried. Father’s crushed legs were imprinted on my mind.

  He’s dead.

  7

  CHAPTER

  My father was dead. Vargo was dead, and only the Holy Fae Mother knew where Andreas was. I was alone, cold and scared and I had no idea of where to place my next foot. The Fae Council would whisper shame over the royal name if I returned before the battle was won - returning otherwise was considered less than duty required. ‘If I wasn’t to die for my people, why should they die for me?’ my father would have said.

  But where could I go from here? I couldn’t stay in the jungle long, I didn’t possess the skills to survive. I sobbed against my red dress, feeling my corset dig into my hipbone. Everything was lost. Why had Wild Skully ventured out from the jungle territory, and why had father been fighting Alpha Moon with the alpha dagger smothered in blood curse magic?

  After my breathing had stabilised, I crawled out of the tree trunk, listening for any threatening noises. If I could get to the outskirts of Fairola City, the greater the chances were that less rural Fae would recognise me without the court furs on; the contrasts were too extreme. I normally wore a black plaited wig over my milk white hair and large cloaks of fur concealed my delicate silk dresses. The only Fae alive who would recognise me were cook Clarence, the court members, Kerri and Andreas – if he was still alive. Possibly the Dungeon Master too from all the times I had played in the red tower chasing stray kittens. He had helped me rig the traps on occasions, but they never worked.

  The hair rose on my arms as a chilly breeze swept by. It was becoming late and I wrapped my arms around my waist and started walking – where? I didn’t know. Just closer towards my former home; a castle I would do almost anything right now to be able to return to, to curl into my soft bed and have Clarence bring me a mug of hot chocolate. But I was the person who was expected to stay in a battle until the very end, protecting every single Fae in my kingdom until the last man standing. No Fae would follow a leader who cowardly left a fight and if I went home and the people found out they would lynch me and hang me from the gallows.

  I slept in the gutter of my own city that night, without a soul in the world caring for me. When I woke up in the morning it seemed as if I was waking up to reality for the first time in my life. What I saw in front of me now was real life, experienced by less fortunate Fae.

  My steps towards the small market were sly, as I hoped to avoid attention. The familiarity of Fae fashion embraced me like a mother’s arms in comparison to what I had been through in the wolf territory. Dull coloured armour had been replaced by strongly dyed silks in all the shades under the sun. Jewellery adorned with gems dangled from all body parts, from the top of Fae’s long pointy ears to their small delicate toes tucked into open plaited sandals.

  I looked at my dirty white boots, ruined beyond recognition. My red dress was blood stained and torn. I resembled a beggar, which was the polar opposite of whom I had always been.

  I walked between the stalls, listening to the friendly gossip between neighbours. Glowers were tossed my way occasionally, pinning me as a stranger. I touched my aching stomach, as I noted a cherry which had fallen off the fruit trader’s table and was lying on the ground. I almost felt the urge to stoop so low as to eat it, but even if I did, one cherry would be like dropping a pebble into the jaw of a giant gorge. I needed a job before I would see a decent meal.

  What could I do?

  I was good at needlework after countless hours under Maid Marciela’s watch, and I was good at sparring with my sword and aiming with my bow, but it didn’t appear as if someone would hire a young woman to do a man’s job around here.

  At the far end of the rows there was a market stall piled high with bolts of fabric and a large woman stood next to it, shouting out her prices. I headed for the stall. On my way, I stopped by another table, displaying artefacts.

  Joyful butterflies entered my stomach as I eyed the beauties, but I had to shrug back as my eyes worked their way up to gaze upon the seller. He was grotesque with a red fleshy scar next to his left eye, which the crow sitting on his shoulder was trying to pick away at every now and again. His long hair cascaded all the way to the ground along a one-piece brown robe and a wolf-fur cape.

  I forced my gaze away from the man and down onto the table again. Now I noticed that there were wonders of treasures mixed in with adeptly made replicas of real artefacts. I recognised
in the work, many of the artisans who were being copied from what Father had taught me during our treasure hunts and from having grown up in his treasure chambers in the castle.

  As I was admiring the pieces, a gentleman approached the table gauging the gold and glitters. He wore a gold headband clad with gems that pressed his hair to his head. Long transparent stones hung from his ears and gold decorated the hem of his long ocean-blue cape. He wore black leather gloves that had a ribbed pattern which coordinated perfectly with his tall boots. The gold belt that was squeezed tight around his waist held his posture fully erect.

  The seller, who had ignored me, jumped off his chair, putting down a tiara he had been polishing until it was able to outshine the sun.

  “Feast your eyes on these treasures of the world. The bracelet of Gwenda the Grim, the Captain’s Dagger from the first ever voyage to Qualmar, and the never before available for sale amulet of our late Fae Queen.”

  Grief entered my soul when the seller referred to my mother. I was the reason for her death at childbirth. I’d never known her but the seller might have known of her. Although, what I did know was that the amulet was fake. The original lay in the larger drawer in my jewellery-box and even if I’d never seen it before in my life, my trained eye wouldn’t be fooled by this replica. Blacksmith Fromier, who the Royal family employed, would never in his wildest dreams cut corners to present such shoddy workmanship.

  The rich Fae only gave a brief and discontented grunt in reply to the tradesman who didn’t seem to have done a day’s honest work in his life; nor had he probably given a genuine smile that wasn’t from greed or gloat.

  The rich Fae cleared his throat. “I need a birthday present for a young lady…” He turned to look at me. “Roughly your age, I would say. Which one would you choose?”

  I looked down at the items on the table, contemplating my answer.

  “The amulet.”

  I had advised him of the worst option with a plan in mind. If one couldn’t afford to be honest, I might as well be a thief to survive. The emptiness in both my stomach and my heart made the decision easier.